Forest and Conservation Technicians in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,489
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$10,881
18.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,886
Louisiana costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Louisiana — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$59,370
Kept after tax
$48,489
Worth in national money
$54,886
State rank
5
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Louisiana pays this job a middle wage of $59,370, ranking 5 of 45 states and sitting about 8.82% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 484 occupations Louisiana reports figures for, this is number 197.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $59,370 you keep $48,489 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $54,886 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $62,920, since top earners drag the number up.
- Louisiana's median for forest and conservation technicians is $59,370, about 8.82% above the national figure and 5 of 45 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- In Louisiana's occupational distribution, forest and conservation technicians sits at 197 of 484 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Retained pay in Louisiana is $48,489 after the full tax stack, from $59,370. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $54,886 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $62,920 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Forest and Conservation Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $43,660 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,370 |
| Top tenth earn over | $89,510 |
| This salary | $59,370 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Louisiana | $48,489 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,884 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,552 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $57,634 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,296 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $59,370 as a midpoint for Louisiana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $43,660 and the ninetieth is $89,510 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Louisiana's $48,489, worked from $59,370. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 197 of 484.
- Two cautions on $54,886, the adjusted value of that $59,370 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Louisiana. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 197 of 484 locally.
- The Louisiana median of $59,370 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $43,660 to $89,510. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Louisiana take-home of $48,489, on $59,370 for work ranking 197 of 484 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 197 of 484 in the state.
- This $54,886 adjusted figure, worked from $59,370, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 197 of 484 in the state. The occupation ranks 197 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $62,920, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $43,660 at the bottom tenth to $89,510 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $54,886.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Louisiana then takes its own share, leaving $48,489.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 45 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Louisiana is $62,920. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($43,660) and the ninetieth ($89,510) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Louisiana's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $54,886 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $48,489 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Louisiana income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.